Electronic game system using a trading-card-type electronic recording medium

ABSTRACT

Game control section executes a game program on the basis of data relating to an object appearing in a game and a control signal given from a controller, to cause the game to progress and generate an image signal and sound signal. Display and sound generating section visually displays the image signal and audibly reproduce the sound signal. Electronic recording medium, in the form of a trading card, stores the data relating to the object that is caused to vary as the game progresses, and contains a memory capable of rewriting data stored therein. This electronic recording medium has an outer appearance similar to that of ordinary commercially-available trading cards. One object is allocated to a single electronic recording medium. The object-relating data represent values that define the attributes of the object appearing during the progression of a game. The attribute values are designed to vary as the game progresses. Data read/write section writes or reads, on the electronic recording medium, the object-relating data stored in the game control section.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to electronic gamesystems for carrying out an electronic game based on a trading card thathas uses both as a collection and as a game tool, and more particularlyto an improved electronic game system which can variably store data on atrading card and carry out a game based on the stored data using apersonal computer, game machine or the like.

[0002] For many years, trading card collections have been a favoritepastime for a number of collectors including adults as well as children.Among examples of such trading cards are “sports cards” having aphotograph, performance data and personal information of a sports playerin baseball, basketball or American football visibly printed thereon,and “character cards” having an animation (animated cartoon) characterprinted thereon. Recently, more sophisticated trading cards have madetheir appearance, which have, in addition to a use as a collection, ause or function as a tool for a so-called fight-type game. These tradingcards are sold not only for a mere collection purpose but also as animportant game tool which can decide a contest or bout or influenceprogression of the game on the basis of various information specificallywritten on the card.

[0003] With such trading cards, however, various pictures, patterns,designs and other information are printed in a fixed hard-copy form andthus can not be varied at all. For this reason, it has been conventionalto change the characteristics of the trading card by using it incombination with another special card. Thus, once the combination withthe special card is cancelled, the changes so far made to theinformation become invalid, which would undesirably result in theproblem that continuity of the game can not be maintained any longer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide anelectronic game system which, in accordance with progression of a game,can variously rewrite data recorded on a trading card.

[0005] According to an aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an electronic game system which comprises: a game controlsection that executes a game program on the basis of data relating to anobject appearing in a game and a control signal given from a controller,to cause the game to progress and generate an image signal and a soundsignal; a display and sound generating section that visually displaysthe image signal and audibly reproduce the sound signal; atrading-card-type electronic recording medium that stores thereon thedata relating to the object caused to vary as the game progresses; and adata read/write section that writes, onto the electronic recordingmedium, the data relating to the object stored in the game controlsection, or reads out, from said electronic recording medium, the datarelating to the object.

[0006] The trading-card-type electronic recording medium for use in thepresent invention is a card containing a rewritable memory (capable ofrewriting data stored therein) and is similar in outer appearance toordinary trading cards commercially available today. For example, theelectronic recording medium may be implemented, for example, by atransponder conventionally used in a radio frequency identification(often abbreviated RFID) system. The electronic recording medium hasprestored thereon data relating to an object appearing in a game, andone object is allocated to a single electronic recording medium. Theobject-relating data represents a value that defines an attribute of theobject appearing during the progression of the game. The attribute valueis caused to vary as the game progresses. The object-relating data(value defining the attribute of the character) varying in accordancewith the progression of the game is stored onto the electronic recordingmedium by means of the data read/write section, so that even when thegame is suspended on the way, the data at the suspended point can bestored onto the recording medium. The thus-stored data is read out bythe read/write section when the game is to be resumed, and then suppliedto the game control section. As a consequence, the data recorded on thetrading card can be rewritten variously in accordance with theprogression of the game, so that unlike in the traditional electronicgame systems, the present invention allows each attribute of the card tobe freely changed depending on the progressing state of the game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] For better understanding of the above and other features of thepresent invention, the preferred embodiments of the invention will bedescribed in greater detail below with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

[0008]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary general hardwaresetup of an electronic card game system in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention;

[0009]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing data that are sequentially recordedinto a memory region of a transponder as a game progresses;

[0010]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an exemplary data organization duringthe progression of the game;

[0011]FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a main routine of theelectronic card game system;

[0012]FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the details of an initializationprocess of FIG. 4;

[0013]FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the details of a card data readingprocess of FIG. 5;

[0014]FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a controller process of FIG. 4; and

[0015]FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a game terminating process of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a general hardwaresetup of an electronic card game system in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. In the embodiment, various operations arecarried out under the control of a microcomputer that includes amicroprocessor unit (CPU) 11, a program memory (ROM) 12 and a workingmemory (RAM) 13. The CPU 11 is a main CPU which controls the operationsin the entire electronic card game system. To the CPU 11 are connected,via a data and address bus 1K, the program memory (ROM) 12, the workingmemory (RAM) 13, a display circuit 14, various switches (switch group)15, a controller interface (I/F) 16, a cassette interface 17 and atransmission/reception interface 18.

[0017] On the basis of various programs and data stored in the programmemory 12 and working memory 13, the CPU 11 controls the operations inthe entire electronic card game system. The working memory 13 receivesand stores various programs and data via the controller interface 16,and a transmission/reception interface 18. Whereas this embodiment willbe described below in relation to the case where a basic game program isread in or introduced through the transmission/reception interface 18,the game program may be read in using any other external storage devicesuch as a floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, CD-ROM drive,magneto-optical disk (MO) drive, ZIP drive or PD drive. Further, ratherthan from such a portable recording medium, operating programs and otherrelated information may be downloaded, via a communication interface,from a communication network (personal computer communication network orInternet) to a storage device such as a hard disk device.

[0018] On the basis of the game program and data received via thecassette interface 17 from a cassette 19 and various data received viathe cassette interface 17 and various data received from cards 1A and 1Bvia the transmission/reception interface 18 as well as control signalsreceived via the controller interface from controllers 1C and 1D, theCPU 11 performs arithmetic operations for processing and advancing agame including image processing to supply image signals to the displaycircuit 14, which, in turn, visually demonstrates on a monitor 1E imagesor pictures related to a game. Data of music sounds and various effectsounds are supplied from a sound generation processing circuit (notshown) to the monitor 1E and audibly reproduced through a speaker (alsonot shown).

[0019] The program memory 12 is a read-only memory (ROM), in which arestored system-related programs for execution by the CPU 11. The workingmemory 13 is for temporarily storing various data that are generated asthe CPU 11 runs the programs. Predetermined address areas in a randomaccess memory (RAM) are allocated as this working memory 13 for use asvarious registers and flags. It will be appreciated that the variousdata generated during execution of the programs include data resultingfrom arithmetic operations, a game program received from an externalsource, data related to development or progression of a game and imagedata relating to characters appearing in the game as well as backgroundpictures.

[0020] The display circuit 14 controls the visual display on the monitor1E and includes an image display processor and a sound processor. Themonitor 1E comprises a liquid crystal display (LCD), CRT or the likewhich is controlled by the display circuit 14. The switches 15 include areset switch and a power switch provided on the body of the electroniccard game device, and these switches 15 output switch event signalscorresponding to their respective operating states. Various operationscorresponding to the switch event signals are carried out by the CPU 11.The controller 16 receives data from the controllers 1C and 1D havingfour direction input keys and various event switches and passes thereceived data onto the data and address bus 1K. The cassette interface17 receives a given game program and data from the cassette 19 and thenpasses the received data onto the data and address bus 1K. These dataand game program thus introduced via the controller interface 16 andcassette interface 17 are written into the working memory 13 via the CPU11.

[0021] The above-described components are common to those employed inthe conventionally-known electronic game devices. The electronic cardgame system in accordance with the present invention is different fromthe known game devices primarily in that it includes a radio frequencyidentification (hereinafter, RFID) system which includes data read/writesections 1H and 1J and transponders 1A and 1B. This RFID system is awell-known system and thus will be explained only briefly. Thetransponders 1A and 1B are each a card-type recording medium thatincludes a semiconductor integrated circuit with atransmission/reception circuit, control circuit and memory allincorporated in a single chip and a printed antenna fortransmitting/receiving an electromagnetic wave. Each of the transponders1A and 1B can generate electric power by the electromagnetic wavereceived via the printed antenna and uses the thus-generated power torewrite data stored in the memory or transmit the memory-stored data ina response electromagnetic wave. Each of the data read/write sections 1Hand 1J exchanges data with the corresponding transponders 1A, 1B via theantenna 1F, 1G. The data to be transmitted or received are controlled bythe CPU 11 via the transmission/reception interface 18. Note that eachof the data read/write sections 1H, 1J is arranged to select any one ofthe corresponding transponders 1A, 1B and read or write data onto theselected transponder. For details of the technique relating to the RFIDsystem, see Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI-8-21875.

[0022]FIG. 2 shows data that are sequentially recorded into a memoryregion of the transponder 1A, 1B as the game progresses. For the purposeof explanation, let's assume here that the game program read out fromthe cassette 19 is directed to a role-playing game made up of a total offive stages where four objects, i.e., brave man, a warrior, a wizard,and a priest, are caused to sequentially move in a single party from thefirst stage to the fifth stage while struggling against each other for atreasure placed in the last chapter of the fifth stage. Whereas thefollowing description is given in relation to a case where two playersparticipate in the game, the game may of course be played among three ormore players. Further, the game may be played among a plurality ofplayers through a communication network such as the Internet. Accordingto the game program, each of the objects are supposed to fight againstany enemies randomly output by the CPU 11, and when the players confronteach other during the course of the game, they are supposed to get readyfor a fight but may either actually fight against each other or avoidfighting.

[0023] Part (A) of FIG. 2 shows an initial state where no substantivedata has been written in the transponders; the transponders in suchinitial state have stored therein initial value data, such as ID numbersand initial parameters. In the illustrated example, ID numbers “0”, “1”,“2” and “3” represent the brave man, warrior, wizard and priest,respectively. These ID numbers may either be prestored on the cards orbe additionally written onto the cards. The game can be advanced evenwhen all the ID numbers from “0” to “3” are not present, but any of theID numbers is not allowed to exist redundantly; namely, two or moretransponders of a same ID number can not be set in the data read/writesections 1H and 1J. In case two or more transponders having a same IDnumber are detected, an error message is displayed so as to instruct aselection of any one of the transponders.

[0024] Part (B) of FIG. 2 shows how, after the game is started with theinitial-state transponders set in the data read/write sections 1H and1J, values representative of four attributes—physical power,intellectual power, fighting power and defensive strength—of one of theobjects having evolved on the basis of experiences gained in accordancewith the progression of the game are written in the memory region of thecorresponding transponder upon completion of the game. Part (C) showsvalues of the attributes written in the transponder memory region uponcompletion of a second playing or round of the game, where the attributevalues in the second round are written as distinguished from those inthe first round of the game by a division mark (). Note that theattribute values are different between the first and second rounds ofthe game and that fighting outfit 1 newly obtained by the correspondingobject has been added as a new attribute value at the value writing forthe second round. Further, part (D) shows values of the attributeswritten in the transponder memory region upon completion of a thirdround of the game, where the attribute values in the third round arewritten as distinguished from those in the first and second rounds ofthe game by division marks (). Note that the attribute values for thethird round are different from those for the first and second rounds ofthe game and that fighting outfit 1 so far possessed by thecorresponding object has evolved into fighting outfit 2 at the valuewriting for the third round. In this way, the attribute values of eachof the objects, allocated to one of the transponders, are caused togradually vary as the game progresses, and the varied attribute valuesare written into the memory region of the corresponding transponder uponcompletion of the game. As a consequence, there can be created atransponder, i.e., a card, with the object's attributes varied inaccordance with the progression of the game.

[0025]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an exemplary data organization in theworking memory 13 during the progression of the game. FIG. 3 shows aprogram area for storing a game program, and a data area for storingcurrent attribute values of the individual objects uniquely identifiedby their respective unique ID numbers (“Id=0” to “Id=3”). In the dataarea of the illustrated example, there are being stored the attributevalues of the individual objects (“Id=0” to “Id=3”) associated with afirst player (“Play=0”) and a second player (“Play=1”). The attributevalues being thus stored in the data area are written into the memoryregions of the transponders (or cards) corresponding to the objects.

[0026] Now, various operations performed by the CPU 11 in the electroniccard game system will be described below merely by way of example, withreference to flow charts of FIGS. 4 to 8. The “card” in the flow chartsof FIGS. 4 to 8 refers to the transponder.

[0027]FIG. 4 shows an example of a main routine of the card game system.First, upon turning ON of the power switch in the switch group 15 ofFIG. 1, the main routine is initiated, where an initialization processis carried out at first step 41 as shown in FIG. 5. Specifically, in theinitialization process of FIG. 5, the game program prestored in thecassette 19 is loaded and stored into a predetermined area of theworking memory 13. Upon completion of the game program loading, a carddata reading process is carried out, where data relating to theindividual transponders now set in the data read/write sections 1H and1J are loaded and stored into a predetermined area of the working memory13.

[0028]FIG. 6 shows the details of the card data reading process, where avalue “0” is set, at first step 61, to both a player register Play and acharacter register Char. Then, at step 62, the value stored in thecharacter register Char is transmitted, as an ID number Id, to the dataread/write sections 1H and 1J, which in turn ascertain whether or notthe corresponding group of transponders 1A or 1B contains a transponderof the transmitted ID number Id. If there is such a transponder, thenthe data read/write section 1H or 1J reads out the data of thattransponder and transmits the read-out data to the CPU 11. Therefore, atnext step 63, a determination is made as to whether there has been anyresponse from the card or transponder. If answered in the affirmative(YES) at step 63, the data of the transponder are received by the CPU11, but if not, a message “No Corresponding Card” is displayed on themonitor 1E to inform the human operator that there is no card of the IDnumber Id. Then, the value of the character register Char is incrementedby one at next step 66, and it is further determined at step 67 whetherthe incremented value has now reached “3”. If the incremented value ofthe character register Char is “1” or “2”, but not “3”, as determined atstep 67, the CPU 11 loops back to step 62 to repeat operations similarto the above-mentioned. If, however, the incremented value of thecharacter register Char has now reached “3”, the CPU 11 proceeds to step68.

[0029] At step 68, the value of the player register Play is incrementedby one, and it is determined at step 69 whether the incremented value ofthe player register Play is “2”.If the incremented value of the playerregister Play is still “1”, the CPU 11 reverts to step 62 in order toread out the data from the second player's transponder and then repeatoperations similar to the above-mentioned. Step 6A, shown in FIG. 6 asbeing taken when a negative determination is made at step 69, isperformed where only one data read/write section 1H or 1J is provided inthe game system. Step 6A is directed to displaying on the monitor 1E aninstruction to the human operator that the combination (stack) of thetransponders, currently set in the data read/write section, should bereplaced with another stack. By such an operation of step 6A, it ispossible to sequentially read out data associated with two or moreplayers even where the game system includes only one data read/writesection. Thus, in the case where two separate data read/write sections1H and 1J are provided for two players as in the example of FIG. 1, thestack replacement instructing operation of step 6A may be omitted. Aftercompletion of the above-mentioned operations, the CPU 11 proceeds to thelast step of FIG. 5 in order to set the individual objects to apredetermined start point of the game with predetermined contents of thefirst stage. Thus, the initialization process at step 41 of FIG. 4 hasbeen completed and the electronic card game system has now been placedin a standby state and waits for a start of the game.

[0030] At step 42 of the main routine, the CPU 11 carries out acontroller process in response to signals from the controllers 1C and1D, as more fully shown in FIG. 7. First, the player register Play isset to a value “0” at first step 71 of the controller process. Then, itis determined at step 72 whether any signal has been received from thecontroller 1C or 1D, i.e., whether there has been any controller input.If answered in the affirmative (YES), the CPU 11 moves to step 73, butif not (NO), the CPU 11 repeats the operation of step 72 until a signalis received from the controller 1C corresponding to the first player(Play-0), here, the controller 1D outputs a signal corresponding to thesecond player (Play-1). At step 73, it is ascertained whether or not thecontroller input is based on actuation of one of the four directioncursor keys on the controller 1C, 1D. If so, i.e., if the controllerinput is a cursor input (YES), the CPU 11 goes to step 74; otherwise,the CPU 11 branches to step 75. At step 74, one or a plurality of (up tofour) objects, i.e., characters, set in the initialization process ofstep 41 are moved on the monitor 1E over a distance corresponding to theamount of movement of the direction cursor key.

[0031] Then, at step 75, a determination is made as to whether the inputfrom the controller 1C, 1D is based on actuation of an attack switch oran defense switch. If the controller input is based on the actuation ofthe attack switch as determined at step 75, then the CPU 11 changes thedisplay of the objects into an attack-mode display. If, on the otherhand, the controller input is based on the actuation of the defenseswitch, the CPU 11 changes the display of the objects into adefense-mode display. This display mode change sets the objects in anappropriate attack or defense position, and the thus-set currentfighting condition is displayed at step 78.

[0032] At next step 79, the CPU 11 calculates values of the attributes(physical power, intellectual power, fighting power and defensivestrength) of the individual objects having varied through the objectmoving operation of step 74 or the fighting condition displayingoperation of step 78, with which the CPU 11 rewrites the correspondingdata stored in the working memory 13. One example of the thus-rewrittendata in the working memory 13 is shown in FIG. 3. It will be appreciatedthat mere movement of the objects on the monitor screen does not alwayschange the attribute values. The value of the player register Play isincremented by one at step 7A following step 79, and then it isascertained at step 7B whether the incremented value of the playerregister Play has now reached “2”. If the incremented value of theplayer register Play is still “1” as ascertained at step 7B, operationssimilar to the above-mentioned are repeated depending on presence orabsence of a controller input from the controller 1D of the secondplayer. If the incremented value of the player register Play has reached“2”, the CPU 11 moves on to step 43 of FIG. 4.

[0033] At step 43 of the main routine, a determination is made as towhether the game has progressed to the last section of the currentlyplayed stage. If so, the CPU 11 goes to next step 44, but if not, theCPU 11 jumps to step 47. At step 44, it is determined whether thecurrently played stage is the last or fifth stage. If so, it means thatthe game has now come to the end of the game, and the CPU 11 displays anending picture on the monitor 1E and proceeds to step 48 in order toterminate the game. If, on the other hand, the currently played stage isnot the fifth stage as determined at step 44, the individual objects areset, at following step 45, to a predetermined start point of the nextstage. At step 47, a determination is made as to whether or not therehas been an instruction to terminate the game. If answered in thenegative, the CPU 11 loops back to step 42 to repeat operations similarto the above-mentioned. If, however, there has been such an instructionas determined at step 47, the CPU 11 moves to step 48 in order toterminate the game through a game terminating process.

[0034]FIG. 8 shows the details of the game terminating process of step48, where a value “0” is set, at first step 81, to the player registerPlay and character register Char. Then, at step 82, the value stored inthe character register Char is transmitted, as an ID number Id, to thedata read/write sections 1H and 1J, which in turn ascertain at step 83whether or not the corresponding group of transponders 1A or 1B containsa transponder of the transmitted ID number Id. If there is no suchtransponder, the CPU 11 goes to step 84 to display a message “NoCorresponding Card” on the monitor 1E in order to inform the humanoperator that there is no card of the ID number Id. If, on the otherhand, there is such a transponder, then the CPU 11 ascertains at step 85whether the transponder of the ID number in question has an empty spacesufficient for storing the transmitted data. If so, the CPU proceeds tostep 86, where it reads out, from the working memory 13, those datacorresponding to the respective attribute values of the individualobjects rewritten at step 79 of FIG. 7 and transmits the read-out datato the data read/write section 1H, 1J for storage on the transponder inquestion. If there is not a sufficient empty space in the transponder,the transmitted data can not be written onto the transponder and itmeans that the object of that transponder is dead, so that the CPU 11displays a message indicative of the death of the object on the monitor1E. Then, the value of the character register Char is incremented by oneat next step 88, and it is determined at step 89 whether the incrementedvalue has now reached “3”. If the incremented value of the characterregister Char is “1” or “2”, but not “3”, as determined at step 89, theCPU 11 loops back to step 82 to repeat operations similar to theabove-mentioned. If, however, the incremented value of the characterregister Char has now reached “3”, the CPU 11 proceeds to next step 8Anow that the data rewriting operation has been completed for all of theobjects.

[0035] At step 8A, the value of the player register Play is incrementedby one, and it is determined at step 8B whether the incremented value ofthe player register Play is “2”. If the incremented value of the playerregister Play is still “1”, the CPU 11 reverts to step 82 in order toread out the data from the second player's transponder and then repeatoperations similar to the above-mentioned. Step 8C, shown in FIG. 8 asbeing taken when a negative determination is made at step 8B, isperformed where only one data read/write section 1H or 1J is provided inthe game system. Step 8C is directed to displaying on the monitor 1E aninstruction to the human operator that the combination (stack) of thetransponders, currently set in the data read/write section 1H or 1J,should be replaced with another stack. By such an operation of step 8C,it is possible to sequentially read out data associated with two or moreplayers even where the game system includes only one data read/writesection. Thus, in the case where two separate data read/write sections1H and 1J are provided for two players as in the example of FIG. 1, thestack replacement instructing operation of step 8C may be omitted.

[0036] In the above-described embodiment, each of the transponders has aunique ID number and any same ID number can not be allocated to two ormore transponders redundantly. However, a same ID number may beallocated redundantly to two or more transponders having sameattributes, as long as these transponders are made distinguishable fromeach other by adding thereto unique sub ID numbers or additionalattributes such as players' initials or by increasing the number ofdigits in the ID number. Thus, even these objects with the same ID canbe varied in their attributes in accordance with the progression of thegame (or values of various experiences gained during the playing of thegame).

[0037] Further, whereas the preferred embodiment has been described inrelation to a role-playing game, the present invention is applicable toany other games than the role-playing game, such as a car rally or carrace game. In such a case, data of the car parts and the driver may berecorded on the card, and a set of different ID numbers may be used toidentify each car and its driver.

[0038] Further, the present invention may use cards each having recordedthereon data of a player in sports such as tennis or soccer. In thiscase, a different ID number may be allocated to each player. Forinstance, if cards of 100 sports players are prepared, a stack may becreated by 11 cards out of these 100 cards and a player list may becreated using 11 ID numbers extracted by the game machine checking allof the 100 ID numbers.

[0039] Furthermore, whereas the preferred embodiment has been describedin relation to the case where each transponder is a write-once memorycard, the transponder may be implemented by a rewritable memory card sothat the stored data can be replaced or updated with new data at the endof the game.

[0040] Moreover, whereas the preferred embodiment has been described inrelation to the case where only the data stored on the transponder arerewritten or updated, the character design on the surface of thetransponder may be varied in accordance with the updated data values.For example, the design on the transponder may itself be changed bymaking an adhesive seal having printed thereon a character designcorresponding to the data values read out from the transponder andsticking the seal onto the transponder.

[0041] In summary, the present invention arranged in the above-describedmanner affords the superior benefit that it can rewrite the datarecorded on a trading card variously in accordance with progression of agame.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic game system comprising: gamecontrol section that executes a game program on the basis of datarelating to an object appearing in a game and a control signal givenfrom a controller, to cause the game to progress and generate an imagesignal and a sound signal; a display and sound generating section thatvisually displays the image signal and audibly reproduce the soundsignal; a trading-card-type electronic recording medium that storesthereon the data relating to the object caused to vary as the gameprogresses; and a data read/write section that writes, onto saidelectronic recording medium, the data relating to the object stored insaid game control section, or reads out, from said electronic recordingmedium, the data relating to the object.
 2. An electronic game system asrecited in claim 1 wherein a character image and/or design of the objectappearing in the game are visibly provided on a surface of saidelectronic recording medium.
 3. An electronic game system as recited inclaim 2 which can vary a character characterizing an attribute of saidelectronic recording medium by sticking, onto a surface of saidelectronic recording medium, an adhesive seal that has the characterimage and/or design printed thereon.
 4. An electronic game system asrecited in claim 1 wherein a plurality of the objects can appear in thegame program and an electronic recording medium with a different datacontent can be used for each of the objects, and wherein, at least uponstart of the game, the data relating to one or more of the objects areread out, via said data read/write section, from one or more of theelectronic recording media so that the read-out data are used in thegame.
 5. An electronic game system as recited in claim 1 wherein whenthe attribute of the object stored on said electronic recording mediumis caused to vary during progression of the game, data representative ofthe varied attribute is written into said electronic recording mediumvia said data read/write section in the course of the game.
 6. Anelectronic game system as recited in claim 1 wherein when the attributeof the object stored on said electronic recording medium is caused tovary during progression of the game, data representative of the variedattribute is written into said electronic recording medium via said dataread/write section upon termination of the game.
 7. A trading card foruse with an electronic game device comprising: a card surface bearing acharacter image and/or design of an object appearing in a game to beplayed on said electronic game device; and an electronic storage sectionthat is provided within said trading card and stores therein datarelating to the object appearing in the game in such a manner that thedata can be read and written via said electronic game device.
 8. Amachine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions ofa game-performing program to be executed by a processor, saidgame-performing program comprising: a first step of reading out, from atrading-card-type electronic recording medium, data relating to anobject appearing in a game and loading the read-out data into aninternal register, a character image and/or design of the object beingvisibly provided on a surface of said electronic recording medium; asecond step of executing a given game program on the basis of said datarelating to the object appearing in a game loaded by said first step, tothereby generate image and sound signals during the course of the game;and a third step of writing, onto said electronic recording medium, saiddata relating to the object caused to vary in accordance withprogression of the game.
 9. A machine-readable recording medium asrecited in claim 8 wherein said game-performing program furthercomprises a step of loading the given game program from an externalmemory into an internal memory and said second step executes the gameprogram loaded in said internal memory.
 10. A machine-readable recordingmedium as recited in claim 8 wherein a plurality of the objects canappear in said game program and a trading-card-type electronic recordingmedium with a different data content can be used for each of theobjects, and wherein said first step reads out data relating to one ormore of the objects from one or more of the electronic recording media.